Faced with a proposed city and county of San Francisco budget for 2004-05 that merges Grants for the Arts with the San Francisco Arts Commission, streamlines both agencies, necessitates staff cuts and trims almost $1.5 million, arts administrators and advocates are apprehensive about an uncertain funding future.

The Arts are such an easy target for grant cuts and the situation in San Francisco must be worryng for a variety of organisations. However, I can understand the decision to make the largest cuts for the major companies who have more opportunities to find alternative funding. What a contrast to New York a couple of years ago when it was the small companies who bore the bulk of the pain.

Walnut Creek finds cultural costs add up By Theresa Harrington / CONTRA COSTA TIMES Walnut Creek officials view their city as the leading regional center for the arts in the Bay Area outside San Francisco -- but at a price.

Faced with stiff opposition from the San Francisco arts crowd, Mayor Gavin Newsom has dropped his controversial budget proposal to merge the city's Grant for the Arts program with the San Francisco Arts Commission -- at least for now.

In a small, windowless office in downtown San Rafael crammed with computers and littered with books on filmmaking and copies of "The Hollywood Reporter," a group of at-risk teenagers and young adults are perfecting their pitches to raise money for a feature film about an inner-city girl who works her way out of gang life. They've already created a business plan calling for a budget of $150,000.

Two city-sponsored programs that have brought dozens of multicultural artists to San Jose stages since 1993 have been eliminated because of municipal budget and manpower cuts, reported Jerry Allen, deputy director of the city's Office of Cultural Affairs.<a href=http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/breaking_news/9521726.htm target=_blank>more</a>

An article from the SF Chronicle. Not just about dance, but interesting and relevant nonetheless.

Quote:

Show us the money! City debates new ways to slice the pie in an era of tough times for arts funding.

Jesse Hamlin, Steven Winn, Chronicle Staff Writers

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

The new millennium has been tough on the arts. With public money shrinking and private donors cutting back, arts groups are competing more fiercely than ever for tight dollars. Even in San Francisco, a widely admired national model for arts funding, it's a struggle. Everyone from the strapped Mission District sculptor to the big-budget San Francisco Opera is feeling the crunch.

Which is why the latest round of squabbling about city arts money has been so contentious. A task force that spent a year hammering out proposals that could dramatically change how San Francisco funds the arts has again polarized the local arts world. The city-appointed body -- whose 21 voting members were picked to represent each supervisorial district and arts groups of varying budgets -- is expected to approve its draft report today. It then gets passed along to the Board of Supervisors, which will review the recommendations and, depending on the political will of the moment, either act on them or not.

[quote]Pizarro: Rumor of donations excites arts groups
By Sal Pizarro
Mercury News
There's a buzz in San Jose's non-profit arts community over word that a series of large donations are on the way to several groups including Ballet San Jose, Symphony Silicon Valley, the San Jose Rep, Opera San Jose and American Musical Theater of San Jose.

No one at the arts groups would confirm rumors of the potential windfall from an anonymous donor, which is said to be in the mid-six figures for at least one group.[quote]

Moving Arts Dance Center in Concord has a "never say die" attitude, says executive director Scott Belding. He is confident that even in this economy the company's early February performance of "Beauty From Darkness" will sell out.

The modern dance organization — which boasts a dance school and its own small, 100-seat theater — has paired with the unusual heavy metal string quartet Judgement Day to boost interest in and attendance at the February performance. This partnership is just one way the organization has reconceived its business model to stay afloat in a shaky economy.

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